Elastic fabric



March 24, 1931. o, F, NEIDEL ELASTIC FABRIC Filed Oct. 18, I950 vevv'arfi O 1W,

Patented Mar. 24, 1931 UNITED STATES OSCAR F. NEIDEL, OF WESTERLY, RHODE v ISLAND, ASSIGNOR 'I'O GEORGE C. MOORE COMPANY, OF WESTERLY, RHODE ISLAND, A CORPORATION OF RHODE ISLAND ELASTIC FABRIC Application filed October 18, 1930. Serial No. 489,643.

In the production of textile fabrics having extensibility and elasticity conferred upon them through the incorporation therein of threads or strands of rubbers, manufacturers have made numerous endeavors to secure the rubber threads or strands against relative displacement in the direction of the length thereof. An aim in this connection is to provent creeping of the rubber threads or strands, and especially of end-portions thereof, as at the ends of pieces of elastic webbing, or elsewhere in the webbing in case a rubber thread or strand should be severed by the needle employed for a sewing operation, or

should break when extended, as a result of being nicked by the needle or of other cause of weakness.

Various special weaves have been devised with a view to rendering the fabric-construction such as to bind the rubber threads or strands effectually for the attainment of the aim aforesaid.

The general object of the invention is to provide for attainment of the said aim by means apart from any special weave.

I have set forth in my co-pending application Serial No. 386,112, one means-for attaining the aim of the invention without resort to a special weave.

In the present invention, the idea set forth in the above application Serial No. 386,112, of .spirally enwrapping the individual strands which are collectively bound together within an enclosing fibrous wrapping, so as to prevent the individual strands from slipping when one or more of them is cut or breaks as a result of being nicked by the needle, has been adapted to the production of a fabric which is characterized by reduced thickness and increased pliability.

In accordance with the invention, I accom plish the object of producing a thin and pliable elastic fabric having the rubber threads or strands secured against creeping in the event of cutting or breakage, by applying a fibrous wrapping to certain of the individual strands or threads of rubber, but not to all of those which are collectively enwrapped in the enclosing fibrous wrapping, so that the fibrous Wrapping of one of the strands or with a thread 2, while the other thread or PATENT OFFICKE threads will press against and into the surface of the adjacent naked thread or strand of rubber, thus causing the wrapping of a single thread or strand to hold both the enwrapped thread or strand and its contiguous unwrapped neighboring thread or strand against slipping or creeping when cut or broken.

In the drawings,

Fig. 1 is a representation of a piece of webbing embodying the invention.

Fig. 2 is a view illustrating one of the composite elastic cords aforesaid.

The rubber threads or strands composing a composite cord are indicated individually 6 at 1, 1, in Figs. 1 and 2. Fig. 2 shows a twostrand rubber elastic cord of which one thread or strand of rubber is spirally enwrapped strand of rubber is left without wrapping and in its natural state. i

The two rubber threads or strands, wrapped and unwrapped, may be either laid side by side, or twisted together, as preferred, and are bound together by an external enclosing fibrous wrapping 3. Fig. 1 shows awebbing 4 in which composite cords on the order of that of Fig. 2 are interwoven with fibrous warp threads and weft or filling.

In Fig. 2'only one thread 2 is shown so wrapped around the enwrapped thread or strand of rubber 1. If preferred, two or more of such threads may be employed in wrapping the thread or strand. The wrapping 2 of the rubber thread or strand may be wound in the same direction as the contacting winding 3 which binds the strands together into a cord, so that the turns of the thread 2 will fit into the convolutions of the wrapping 3 with less chance of relative movement. However, in certain instances, it may be more desirable to wind the .wrappings 2 andS in opposite directions to prevent kinking or twisting of the finished cord.

In Fig. 2 the external enclosing fibrous wrapping 3 is'composed of a plurality of threads wound side by side in a single layer. The number of threads comprised in such layer may be greater or less than that shown and if found desirable, an additional layer may be applied outside the first layer, wound in the direction opposite to that of the first ayer.

By the arrangement described, wherein certain of the component rubber strands or threads entering into the composition of a single elastic cord are individually en- Wrapped, whereas certain others of the component strands are left naked, the turns of the en'wrapping threads 2 for the individual strands will serve both to hold the enwrapped thread or strand 1 against slipping in the event of cutting or breakage thereof, and will also serve to a great extent to effect the same holding action 011 an adjacent rubber thread or strand which is pressed into close contact with the convexities or salient portions of the turns of the thread 2 because the component strands are pressed tightly against each other by the enclosing fibrous wrapping 3, while at the same time the elastic cord thus made is substantially reduced in diameter through the omission of the Wrapping threads 2 from certain of the rubber threads or strands 1. Thus, it is possible to weave a thinner and more pliable fabric from the cords thus manufactured, while the rubber strands or threads are held much more securely against creeping than when merely bundled together innaked condition side by side within a fibrous wrapping.

In the case of fabrics, inrwhich, as usual heretofore, elastic cords comprising each a single rubber thread or strand are .woven, a needle employed in forming stitches through such fabric might sever the said thread or strand completely, and even if the needle merely nicked the rubber thread or strand enlargement of the nick would be sure to occur subsequently resulting eventually in breakage of the rubber thread or strand. The advantage in the case of c0mp0site elastic cords composed of a plurality of rubber threads or strands, is that the likelihood of both or all thereof being severed or nicked by a needle is not so great.

My invention combines the advantages of such composite elastic cords, with protection against the disfiguring effect on the fabric of creeping of cut and broken strands of rubher, while providing a thin and compact composite cord suitable for use in the construction of thin and pliable webbing.

The invention is applicable in the case of fabrics produced by knitting, braiding, etc., as Well as those produced by weaving.

What is claimed as the invention is,-

1. An elastic fabric having included in the fabric-construction thereof composite elastic cords each of such cords comprising a'plurality of individual rubber threads, of which certain are enwrapped spirally with covering thread and certain others are left naked, with the wrapped and naked threads collectively bound together by an enclosing fibrous ,wrapping.

2. The composite elastic cord comprising a plurality of individual rubber threads, one or more thereof being enwrapped splrally with fibrous material, and one or more thereof naked, and= collectively bound together by an enclosing fibrous wrapping.

' 4 OSCAR F. NEIDEL. 

